Corporate Profile

Tata Motors is India’s largest automobile company which is the leader in the commercial vehicles segment. It is the world’s fourth largest truck manufacturer. The company had consolidated revenues of 27 billion dollars in 2010-11. The company was also the first Indian engineering company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (September 2004).

Tata Motors has operations in UK, South Korea, Thailand and Spain. There is Jaguar Land Rover that it acquired in 2008. It also acquired Daewoo, South Korea’s second largest truck maker.

The company has 25,000 employees who have produced 5.9 million Tata vehicles since 1954. The company’s plants in India are at Jamshedpur (Jharkand), Pun (Maharasthra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), Sanand (Gujarat) and Dharwad (Karnataka). It produces both Fiat and Tata cars in India. It has 3,500 dealerships in India and it distributes Fiat cars.

The company has 4.500 engineers and scientists, as well as the Company’s Engineering Research Centre, established in 1966. The Company has R&D centers in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Dharwad in India and in South Korea, Spain and the U.K. Tata Motors developed India’s first Light Commercial Vehicle, the Sports Utility Vehicle and in 1998, the Tata Indica. Tata Indica became India’s largest selling car. Tata also launched the Tata Ace, India’s first mini-truck. Tata also unveiled the Tata Nano, India’s People’s Car.

Company History

Tata Engineering and Locomotive was established in 1945 to manufacture locomotives. In 1948, steam road roller was introduced in collaboration with Marshall Sons (United Kingdom). In 1954 there was collaboration with Daimler Benz for the manufacture of commercial vehicles only. This vehicle was rolled out within 6 months of the contract. In 1959, the Research and Development Center was set up at Jamshedpur. In 1961, exports began with the first truck being shipped to Sri Lanka.

In 1971, DI engines were introduced. In 1977, Pune was the place where the first commercial vehicle was built. Four years after that, there was the manufacture of Heave Commerical Vehicles. In 1985, the first hydraulic excavator was produced in a collaboration with Hitachi.

Company Founder(s)

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was the founded of Tata Motors. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992. He was born in Paris in France as the son of Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his mother was French - Suzanne Briere. His father was the cousin of Jamshedji Tata. He spent his childhood in France.

He obtained a first pilot license in India. He founded Tata Airlines in 1932 which has now become Air India. JRD joined Tata and Sons in 1925. He was made the chairman 13 years later. He was the director of many companies like Steel, Engineering, Power, Chemicals and Hospitality. The company under his chairmanship grew from 100 million dollars to 5 billion dollars. He started with 14 enterprises and in the end when he left there were 95 enterprises.

In 1945, he founded Tata Motors. In 1948, he launched Air India, India’s first international airline. In 1953, the Indian Government appointed his as the Chairman of Air India. He also launched a program to give workers a voice in the company. He founded Tata Consultancy Services.

Company Milestones

1986: The Tata 407, the first light commercial vehicle was produced followed by the Tata 608.

1989: The Tatamobile 206- 3rd LCV model was produced.

1991: The 1st indigenous passenger car, the Tata Sierra was introduced. The one millionth Tata vehicle rolled out this year.

1992: The Tata Estate was launched.

1993: There was a joint venture signed with Cummins Engine company to manufacture high horsepower and emission friendly diesel engines.

1994: Multiple launches took place: The Tata Sumo multi utility vehicles were launched as well as the LPT 709, a light commercial vehicle. There was a joint venture with Daimler to manufacture the Mercedes Benz cars in India. There was also a joint venture with Tata Holset to manufacture turbochargers to be used on Cummins engines.

Vision & Values

The vision statement of Tata Motors Limited, India's largest automobile company, is to be "best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and best in our value system and ethics."

Management Team

Ratan Tata holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Cornell University and has studied at the Harvard Business School. He joined Tata in 1962. In 1991, he was appointed the Chairman of Tata Sons Limited, the holding company of Tata Entities and holds the chairman ship of Tata Companies. He has grown the company to a 62.5 billion dollar company.

Ravi Kant holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Master’s in Science degree from the University of Aston, Birmingham, UK. He has experience in Marketing and Manufacturing in the automobile industry. He was with Phillips India as the Director of Consumer Electronics business and was employed with Kinetic Engineering Limited and Hawkins Cookers Limited. He was the MD of the company since July 2005.

Nusli Wadia is the Chairman of Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company. He has been on the Board of Tata since December 1998.

S.M Palia is a Development Banker. He was with IDBi. He was appointed the Director of Tata in 2006.

Dr. Mashelkar is a chemical engineer and is the President of the Indian National Science Academy, Nation al Innovation Foundation, Institution of Chemical Engineers and Global Research Alliance. He has been elected as the Fellow of Royal Society London, the National Academy of Science USA, the National Academy of Engineering and World Academy of Art and Science, USA. He is the Director of the Company since 2007.

Mr. Munjee is on the Board of Tata.

Mr. Subodh Bhargava is the Director of the Company since 2008.

Mr VK Jairath is the Director of the Company since 2009.

Mr. Ranendra Sen is the Director of the Company since 2010

Dr. Ralf Speth is the Director of the Company since 2010.

Mr. Carl Forster is the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company since 2010 and was responsible for Tata Motors global operations including Jaguar Land Rover. He was appointed as the Managing Director of the Company.

Mr. Prakash Telang is the Executive Director of the Company since May 2007 and became the Managing Director of India since 2009.

Manufacturing Facilities

Tata’s production is carried out in Jamshedpur in East Pune and in Sanand and Lucknow in the West and North respectively.

The Jamshedpur plant in 1945 was spread over 822 acres. It has four divisions - Truck Factory, Engine Factory, Cab and Cowl Factories. The truck division has two assembly lines. There is a vehicle rolling out every 8 minutes from the division and there is a another division to meet the requirements of the Indian Army. There are advanced facilities for manufacturing 5000 tonnes of Hydraulic press line.

The Engine factory produced the Tata 697/497 aspirated and turbo charged engines and 6B series engines.

The Pune plant is in two geographical locations: Pimpri and Chinchwad. It has been established in 1966 and has a Production Engineering Division. It also has a vehicle manufacturing complex. It is engaged in the design and manufacture of press tools. It has CAD facilities and manufacturing facilities.

The Lucknow plant was established in 1992 to meet the demand for Commercial Vehicles in the Indian market. There is an Engineering Research Center and Service set up to support latest technology. The plant has many modern businesses. The Lucknow plant also manufactures buses.

The Pantnagar plant began production in August 2007. The plant is spread over 953 acres out of which 337 acres are occupied. The company has invested Rs. 1,000 crores in the plant.

The Sanand facility in Ahmedabad in Gujrat produces 250,000 cars per year. The facility is spread over 725 acres and the adjacent vendor park is 375 acres. They house the Tata Nano.

Technology

Tata Motors is equally focused on environment-friendly technologies in emissions and alternative fuels. It has developed electric and hybrid vehicles both for personal and public transportation. It has also been implementing several environment-friendly technologies in manufacturing processes, significantly enhancing resource conservation.

Awards & Recognition

Tata Motors won the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility for 2011. This award was received by Satish Borwankar, VP of Manufacturing Operations and the head of Industry Relations, Mr. G.S Uppal. It was awarded in April 2011.

Customer Support received the Golden Peacock Award in 2011. The Chief Justice of India gave out the award. Tata Nano won the Best Car Advertisement of the Year Award by Bloomberg UTV. This was awarded by Autocar India Awards 2011. Tata Nano also won the GOOD DESIGN Award for 2010

The Lucknow plant won the Rajiv Gandhi National Award in 2009. Tata Motors was placed amongst the highest score band of 50%-55%. Ravi Kant received the Golden Peacock Award for Business Leadership under the Chairmanship of Justice Bhagwati. CNBC TV18 gave Mr. Ramakrishnan the award for India’s best CFO by CNBC TV18 CFO Awards 2010. Tata Motors won the IT Service Management award for its implementation in Bangalore. Tata Nano won the Gold Prize in the Best New Product Segment in the Transportation Category under Edison Awards.

International Operations

Tata Motors has its operations in Thailand, South Africa, Argentina and South Korea. It was running Jaguar Land Rover- the British brand. In South Korea it acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company and Hispano Carrocera. It is also planning to set up plants in Turkey, Indonesia and Eastern Europe. Tata motors has a cost advantage in India as he labor is 8-9 percent of the sales against 30-35 percent in developed countries. Tata also has expertise in IT based engineering solution for products and process integration has helped Tata Motors.

There is also a huge demand due to infrastructure developments and Tata Motors is able to leverage its knowledge of the Indian market. Tata is expanding to foreign markets to become competitive internationally. Tata Motors had revenues of 16 billion USD in 2008/2009.

The biggest accomplishment of Tata is with the Light Commercial Vehicle, India’s first Sports Utility Vehicle and Tata Indica, released in 1998. Tata Ace became India’s first developed minitruck and then came the People’s Car - the Tata Nano. The Middle East market is a big market for Tata Motors.

Exports

The rechristened Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company has launched several new products in the Korean market, while also exporting these products to several international markets. Today two-thirds of heavy commercial vehicle exports out of South Korea are from Tata Daewoo. In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, and subsequently the remaining stake in 2009. Hispano's presence is being expanded in other markets. In 2006, Tata Motors formed a joint venture with the Brazil-based Marcopolo, a global leader in body-building for buses and coaches to manufacture fully-built buses and coaches for India and select international markets. In 2006, Tata Motors entered into joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company of Thailand to manufacture and market the Company's pickup vehicles in Thailand. The new plant of Tata Motors (Thailand) has begun production of the Xenon pickup truck, with the Xenon having been launched in Thailand in 2008.

Tata Motors is also expanding its international footprint, established through exports since 1961. The Company's commercial and passenger vehicles are already being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, South Asia and South America. It has franchisee/joint venture assembly operations in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia, Senegal and South Africa.

Future Plans

Tata Motors plans to double its sales staff. They have 1,800 people dedicated for the Nano and will hire additional staff to take the number up to 3,000 people. Tata Motors plans to export 2,000 units per month.

Tata Motors also plans to launch the Nano in Nepal. The car will be on sale across Nepal through the company distributor. The head of International Business at TATA Motors said that they are delighted to introduce the TATA Nano in Nepal. They feel its an ideal small car and the executive chairman said that they are proud to bring the Nano in Nepal. The price of the Nano will be NPR 798,000 and bookings will be open for 10 days. All three variants of the car will be available in the Sipradi showrooms.

Tata Motors will raise funds overseas to reduce debts. The company may raise $500 million in external commercial bonds. The Company will invest five billion pounds in the UK in coming years. It will raise debt capital to increase its debt maturity profile and reduce its interest cost

Our endeavor is to provide car buying consumers in India a one stop shop where they can do all their research about the latest cars in India. The Auto industry has been booming in recent times and we have moved to selling almost 2 million cars a year. The used car industry has been growing at an even faster pace.